It's funny, Funhouse was so full of holes and places that required great suspension of disbelief. Yet I really quite liked it. Maybe that's due to my nostalgia; Funhouse was one of the earliest Point Horror books I owned as a kid. (That said, The Fever was the first one I had, and was one of my favourites as a 9 and 10-year-old, yet my adult self didn't like it at all. So nostalgia doesn't account for everything.)The basic plot points are as follows: Tess lives in a small coastal town along with her group of friends, all of whom are from rich families whose parents are part-owners in The Boardwalk, an amusement park on the beach. At the beginning of the book, the Devil's Elbow roller coaster flies off its tracks, killing at least one person (a boy Tess' age; I don't think it's mentioned whether any others died) and injuring many, including a girl and boy implied to be from Tess' group of friends. Tess sees a shadowy figure underneath the roller coaster just after the accident, which she mentions to her friends. Later, at home, she receives a taunting note that implies that the accident was not, in fact, accidental, and asking Tess who she thinks will be next. Will it be her?One by one, Tess' friends are attacked, and it soon becomes clear to her that someone is after the kids whose parents own The Boardwalk.Spoilers abound for the rest of this review, because it's impossible to review this particular book without them, so be warned.I said at the beginning that this book is absolutely FULL of plot holes. The biggest concerns the initial roller coaster disaster. The killer's aim is to punish the parents who own The Boardwalk by harming their children. Indeed, Tess shouts words to this effect at her cynical, disbelieving ex - "Haven't you even noticed that the kids hurt the worst so far all have parents on The Boardwalk's board of directors?" Yet - and I'm not particularly technical, so correct me if I'm wrong here - I see NO POSSIBLE WAY to engineer a roller coaster crash so that I can choose who will be killed or badly injured. Short of convincing your friends to ride it at the same time, and keeping too many other people from getting on, I can't even see a way of even ensuring that the right people will be on it. I suppose there's a faint possibility that those three kids rode it a dozen times every day, all together, but I doubt it. Most likely, IMO, is that causing the crash was a spontaneous decision by the killer, but the chapters that are written from the killer's perspective belie this.Later in the book, the killer steals the heroine's keys, so that she'll go and look in the Funhouse for them and fall through the floor onto the beach below. This just seems like a sloppy trick to play on someone, as a) she may not even notice her keys are lost; b) she may not care / may have a spare set; c) she may not think to look in the Funhouse; d) she may fall through the floor and land on cushiony sand without much injury, unless it's a really long drop (and how far can it be, from boardwalk to beach? Fifteen feet, max?); and e) her best friend may volunteer to look instead. Which is what happened. Sloppy sloppy.So yeah, the killer really didn't seem to know what s/he was doing. And her / his motivations were pretty suspect. Without giving away the ENTIRE plot, I gotta say that most teens I know, if they discovered what s/he discovered, would most likely be shocked for a while and then shrug it off. Unless s/he already had huge, hidden mental problems - which is never mentioned - I don't see how they could turn into a murderer from learning what was, ok, a pretty rotten secret, but not really a life-destroying one.I snark, I admit it. My navy SEAL always yells at me for being bitchy about enemy weaknesses. Be thankful, he tells me. Every time the bad guy messes up makes one less battle you have to fight. In person, I get his point, but I still find it hard to tolerate idiocy, and when it's a fictional villain who's acting like a moron, I reserve the right to snark about him / her.Snark aside, though, I did think this was a cool book. With the isolated feelings that Tess has, staying alone in her stepmother's condo and having no real relationship with her father or stepmother, an overbearing ex-boyfriend and only one friend that she really gets on with, it's a recipe for an uncomfortable Sati, yet something about the book was quite fun. It was certainly fast-paced and kept my attention. The ending hurt my heart a bit, but it was certainly unexpected the first time I read it.Verdict: Simple, easy-to-read cotton candy for the brain.
I've been re-reading a lot of the Point Horror books lately and enjoying them, but this one was hard to read. To be honest, they're all a bit cheesy and/or full of plot holes, but it usually doesn't bother me too much since they're still fun to read. This one, not so much. First off, the names were ridiculous - Doss, Beak and Guy-Joe? That's just a travesty. I mean come on - Guy-Joe??? Really?Every chapter that was written through the killer's point of view was laughably bad. The killer's motivation also made zero sense, as did their overly complicated and not-well-thought-out-at-all plan. If you wanted to kill someone, this would be the slowest and stupidest way to go about it, leaving the most room for error possible.I know I'm tearing this book apart but it wasn't THAT awful, it's just that it was such a letdown after the other ones I've been reading. As a kid, I think I liked this. As an adult, it was really hard to take. Nostalgia can only take me so far, and the other ones I've read lately were legitimately good. This one just didn't measure up.
What do You think about Funhouse (1990)?
I think I will need a separate rating scale to my Point Horror reads because they are like Harlequin versions of young adult horror that are put together without much of a thought but they still manage to entertain your dark nights with their lightness and thrills.Funhouse was one of the better books in Point Horror series I have read to this date and age, and only shows how the quality varies and which authors are the ones to go when needing something to keep company to your chocolate cookies.Point Horror reading experiences are not about the perfect, logical plots but about those overused tropes and twists that would make you want the leading girl in your Friday night horror movie to die because there is only certain amount of dumbness you can handle in an hour and a half.Resting your brain while having revenge and blood thrown at your face is one of the best ways to spend your evenings.It's cozy, fun and relaxing.Also posted at: http://hfk.booklikes.com/
—Hunger For Knowledge
FIRST IMPRESSION:This is a book I own, seeing as I bought it from a second-hand store.WRITING STYLE:One of the most thrilling writing styles yet. Perfect for the book.PLOT:Diane is one of those writers who go with the least suspicious suspect -and somehow, it gets my breathing racing every she does. Amazing writing here.CHARACTERS:All the characters are amazing, and I love Tess. A solid, wonderful main character.OVERALL:One of the best suspense/mystery/horror/thriller books I've ever read.AMOUNT OF STARS:5
—Watermelon Daisy
Another teen horror novel whose cover was instantly familiar to me. Oh my gosh, the font for the title!!! So good.This book was really silly and full of plot holes. But I am burying the lead . . . which is that there is a character named "Guy Joe." Seriously. Actually, it is Guy Joe, Jr., which means there is a Guy Joe, Sr. Guy Joe!!!!! For real.The book starts with a pretty grim scene in which a roller coaster derails, killing and maiming several friends of the main character, Tess. But there's no time for any of the teenage characters to mourn or have feelings about it because there is PLOT to get to! Tess sees a mysterious person underneath the roller coaster tracks right before the accident, but when she tries to tell people about it, no one believes her because she is a silly emotional girl who is probably seeing things. Then she gets a letter containing death threats, so she takes it to the police station. Before she can even speak, a police officer says, "You got a problem, little lady? What's the matter, you missing a boyfriend? . . . Fellow'd have to be crazy to walk out on a pretty little thing like you." Tess is 17. She can't even report a death threat without being sexually harassed and silenced. Yikes. I don't know. It was starting to depress me. I think if the main character was a guy, no one would question what he had witnessed or the fact that he felt threatened. But I digress . . . More bad things start to happen to Tess and her group of friends and still everyone but Tess thinks it is just coincidence - which, of course, it is not. The resolution of this book doesn't really make sense and the killer's motivation is strange and his/her methods are way too complicated. If you want them dead, just kill them - stop being so convoluted about it. I don't know, all of these teen books are kind of cliched and silly, but this one felt like it was worse for some reason.Two other random thoughts:- The roller coaster of doom from the beginning of the book is called "The Devil's Elbow" - which feels like kind of a laughable name for a thrill ride. Are elbows scary?-This book contains maybe the most 80's line of all time: "Clamping the headphones over her ears and snapping the cassette player on the metal chain belt circling the waist of her jeans, she began her search." The music on the cassette: George Michael.
—Kim
